Top 3 Favorite Series

It is Tuesday the 21th and time for my first proper blog post. I will be kick-starting this blog by talking about my top 3 favorite series to read, because who doesn’t love to dive deep into a world you get to explore through a series of books?

When reading I usually put weight on how the world is built up, the characters and their personalities and developments, the written language of the author, the story and pace, and whether the story makes my blood boil from excitement or not.

However, I’ve read books which in my theory would be a full 5 stars, but I’ve had to drag myself through, and I’ve read “low quality books” which has had me completely hooked from page 1. All opinions on this blog is personal and I respect that others might have a different point of view.

Onward to the theme at hand. The choice to narrow my favorite series down to only 3 were not an easy task, but I managed to land on these series:

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.

Shades of Magic by Victoria Schwab.

Fever by Karen Marie Moning

A Court of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J. Maas

When I started reading this series I was unfamiliar with Sarah J. Maas’ works, so I did not know what to expect, but a world of faeries nudged my interest, and I got hooked from the start.

Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So, when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price … Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that what she knew of the faerie world is nowhere close to reality and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place.

Maas’ world building is beyond words, she is capable of building the most wonderful of places, and my imagination was running wild when reading.“The walls weren’t moving, and the room was open – gaping. No colors, but shades of darkness, of night. Only those star-flecked violet eyes were bright, full of color and light.”

She is painting with words, and my heart can barely take it. Her characters are so well developed, and they even keep on improving over time. They move forward, they fail, they try again, they have flaws, and this is what keeps them all interesting. After reading both A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass I can safely say she is without doubt my favorite author.

Shades of Magic – Victoria Schwab

Magic, either in our own world or in another, never fail to intrigue me, and Shades of Magic left me in awe. The story happens in a place we all know, which is London. In a different reality of it that is. Victoria Schwab is on my top 3 lists of favorite authors, and so far, I’ve loved everything I’ve read from her.

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

Just as I mentioned with Maas; Schwab’s world building and character insight is also mesmerizing, and I found myself reading page after page without wanting to put the books down. Schwab’s characters are well developed and interesting, and they too make me feel like they could have been real people. Yes, they have great magic and owns it beyond imagination, but boy, do they fuck up because of stubbornness, arrogance, and pride.

When traveling to Finland along with my boyfriend, his brother, and uncle, I found myself a tattoo shop and got the words “As Travars” tattooed on my skin. I figured it was really fitting, seeing as As Travars in the books means To Travel, and I was indeed out traveling.

Fever – Karen Marie Moning

If you, however, don’t find imaginary worlds to be of your liking, then Fever by Karen Marie Moning might be the books for you. The story is set to our own world, taking place in Dublin, Ireland. The faerie realm is a lot closer than we think, and when MacKayla considers the issue, she also finds that the walls are a lot thinner than what would be comfortable.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death—a cryptic message on MacKayla Lane’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed—a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae.

Parts of the reason to why I love this series is because they way everything is introduced, nothing it laid directly out for you right away. We start at the beginning of the story, naturally, and while working our way through the story we slowly start to untangle a lot of the questions we get. I am on book 8 now, and I still have question I am dying to find out about.

At times MacKayla runs around like a headless chicken, with no clue on how to handle what is happening to her, but she always manages to get herself back on track, either by her own hand or by the hand of those around her.

So, after reading all of this I truly hope you have found some new stories to read. Please leave a comment, telling me about your favorite books or series, I would absolutely love to check them out!